As the world continues to face the polycrisis – war, conflict, climate crisis, inequality, inequity and much more – all sectors need to coordinate to address and respond to the scale, interconnectedness and speed of these crises.

Philanthropy must help governments and other stakeholders better understand how our sector can play a catalytic role in unlocking quality, flexible and accessible funding for solutions and local resources for locally-led development. The Group of 20 (The G20) offers philanthropy an exciting new space for this advocacy.

The G20 is a platform for economic and political cooperation among 20 of the world’s major economies, representing around 85 percent of global GDP, 75 percent of global trade and two-thirds of the world’s population. The G20, which includes the African Union and the European Union, brings together a range of sectors and diverse voices to input into global policymaking, such as civil society (C20), private sector companies (Business 20), think tanks (Think 20), as well as other engagement groups like the Women’s 20 on gender equity issues and the Youth 20 that channels young people’s contributions into global policy debates.

The G20 is part of a long-term tilt of the geopolitical landscape and decision-making power towards the Global South or Majority World. G20 leadership changed from India in 2023 to Brazil in 2024 and will move to South Africa in 2025. Also, this year’s climate Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Azerbaijan will be followed by Brazil hosting COP30 next year. The BRICS summit in South Africa in 2023 is moving to Brazil in 2025. As multilateralism in the international community fractures, conservative nationalism is emerging, migration is increasingly viewed as a threat, and overseas development efforts are now more tied to trade. Within this fragmentation and shift, however, the G20 can shape a new era of partnership for sustainable global development.

Philanthropy at the G20

At WINGS, we work with our 210+ members across 59 countries to build a stronger, interconnected philanthropic sector globally. As part of our co-created advocacy strategy, we aim to create a stronger collective voice and coordinated action to represent the diversity of philanthropy worldwide at global multi-stakeholder platforms. Part of that strategy focuses on engagement at the G20.

In 2023, WINGS began a learning journey to explore engagement at the G20 by listening to the experiences and perspectives of G20 participants and the broader field of experts working within the G20 processes. After considering different avenues and potential for engagements, in 2024, WINGS joined the Brazil-based GIFE network and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) to co-chair the first-ever C20 Working Group 9 on Philanthropy for Sustainable Development.

This group has 400+ participants representing different philanthropy stakeholders, including community foundations, research institutions, giving platforms, philanthropy networks, foundations and more, along with civil society actors from around the world. Together, we articulated how philanthropy contributes to the priorities of the  G20 presidency and how this connects the local to the global. As our co-chair IIED summed up: “Underpinning the Working Group’s input into the C20 general recommendations was a clear and encouraging objective for philanthropy to go beyond siloed, fragmented programming and support coherent, aligned, and transformative policy measures”.

Philanthropy as a strategic partner for public policy 

The C20 Working Group 9 broadly agreed that incrementalism in the global policymaking processes and siloed approaches cannot solve the world’s structural challenges. Structural and systemic transformations are needed. To contribute to this transformation, philanthropy needs to sharpen its engagement in the processes through two key roles.

The first is to be a strategic partner in public policy, working with governments to recommend better and more effective policies for long-term, inclusive and sustainable development. This is reflected in recommendations such as international tax cooperation, as well as a common regulatory framework to guide philanthropic engagement in public policy. Philanthropy’s second role is to support governments to engage in cross-sector partnerships for effective collaboration due to its catalytic capital, networks, influence, access to local knowledge, and the ability to bring local and diverse leaders to the table.

Participants in the Working Group also acknowledged that philanthropy itself needs to transform in order to realise its full potential. This included calls for the philanthropy sector to take on the role of an enabler rather than an implementer, being at the service of others and giving up control, truly taking a flexible and longer-term perspective reflected across grantmaking and having stronger coordinated action within the sector. This feedback strongly resonates with the Philanthropy Transformation Initiative, which includes a global framework of key mindset shifts and principles for action, co-created from the collective intelligence of our members and the broader field.

The WG9 process and consultation with the broader sector resulted in evidence-based recommendations about protecting civic space, unlocking more and better finance through strategic partnerships and addressing inequalities, climate issues and global governance challenges with a focus on the most marginalised communities. Our other calls to the G20 asked for a better enabling environment and data infrastructure. We addressed the Brazilian presidency’s priority issues, including climate action, racism, wealth taxation, and the importance of South-South cooperation – including through the South African G20 presidency in 2025.

How can you engage with this process? 

In our July WINGS Enabling Environment working group meeting, WINGS members shared their experiences engaging with the G20 policymaking process. At the national level, Working Group co-chair GIFE noted the opportunity to focus on inequality and make linkages with government, the broader sector and other stakeholders. GIFE also aims to encourage Brazil-based funders to take a country-wide approach, orienting the sector with strong G20 messages to challenge structures of inequalities and influence the sector’s assumptions. It also enables the host country to put national priorities and issues on the global agenda.

The alliance of community foundations in Mexico, Comunalia, sees the G20 as a platform to leverage the voices of the Global South, helping our sector think and act collectively. At a regional level, the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law and the Institute for Wise Philanthropy reiterated the importance of global solutions and participating in a global platform that can influence discussions. All agreed that at the G20, they can engage and build relationships with governments at national, regional and global levels.

As organisations, you can share the country-relevant G20 recommendations with your networks once available. To create awareness of the G20 and C20 processes as a route to influence, you can translate, add evidence, and advocate recommendations to your government.

This is long-term, intensive work. From this consultative process, we have learned a lot about promising practices from across the world. A coordinated, networked, long-term approach needs consistent energy to influence governments and ensure accountability. For this to happen, all WINGS members can collectively engage as the G20 leadership moves from Brazil to South Africa, the US and beyond.

Casey Kelso is the Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at WINGS. Sameera Mehra is the Collective Intelligence and Advocacy Director at WINGS.